It’s More than an Election: The US Chart, the Saturn-Uranus Opposition, & the Start of a New Era

As the average world citizen warily waits for Election Day, another event is taking place under the radar for most of them. That is the opposition of Saturn and Uranus, which occurs at 8:33 AM on November 4 in Washington DC. (See the chart at left.)

Saturn and Uranus represent a strong dynamic of change that pits tradition against revolution, or the status quo against an innovative force. This occurred twice in the 20th century: in 1919-20 (the badly handled end of WWI) and in 1966-67 (the Sixties Revolution, also involving transformative Pluto).

The Current Opposition
Saturn and Uranus make five oppositions in a series beginning November 4 and ending July 26, 2010. These oppositions will occur at degrees between 18:58 Virgo-Pisces and 0:25 Libra-Aries. These degrees contact the positions of the US Mars and Neptune, which are square each other (90̊ apart) in the US chart. In the chart I use for the US, cast for a time found in recently uncovered historical records, the oppositions fall across the 1st and 7th houses of the US chart.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes for the United States
This indicates a major change in the character and identity of the US in three ways that are intrinsic to the US Mars square Neptune. This square carries many meanings, but in the main it stands for the pursuit of the American Dream, and the exploitation of the disadvantaged. These two are in many ways intertwined. Exploitation is perpetrated against those who are already weak or those who are made weak. This includes the working class, recent immigrants, racial “minorities”, and women. It is easier to fulfill an “American Dream” if you take advantage of others, and this has been a pattern throughout US history, but it is not the only pattern of behavior or the only way this configuration in the US chart is used. In particular, the issue of race is tied to the Mars-Neptune square.

As the Saturn-Uranus opposition plays out, Saturn will move over Neptune, and both Saturn and Uranus will square Mars. This suggests a major shift in the consciousness surrounding the American Dream, the way that the disadvantaged are treated, and the issue of race.

We can already see the emergence of all three issues, and this is a good sign. In the coming election, it seems that the public is turning away from market fundamentalism and trickle-down economics (without understanding quite what it is they are rejecting) because they realize its oppressive outcome on all but a favored few at the top of the scale. We can also see the death of the old materialistic form of the American Dream in the failing economy. Finally, the issue of race is being brilliantly turned on its head by one Barack Obama.

Over the next two years, we can expect to see all three of these areas go through a dramatic shift, and all of them will be better for us in the long run. This is not to say that there won’t be pain, even unimaginable pain. What’s more, each nation will experience Saturn-Uranus in its own way and go through its own unique process of re-invention.

A New Day Dawns
When we tie this to the other challenges we face as a planetary citizenry, it is daunting; but it is not impossible. Over the next two years, we will see the people of the United States reveal a deeper side of their nature. There were many people who have always been there, but it will begin to be a visible part of the American identity. Americans will move away from materialism (not willingly) and racism and start reaching out to each other again. Maybe it’s only because we need each other more, but whatever brings it about, it’s not a bad thing.

This is first glimmer of a new era for the US, when the values of the old revolution become the truths of the new revolution.

How Are We Doing? Mercury Sends More Messages About the Economy

When Mercury turned around on the 15th, there were three times I wanted to watch to see how the economy responded. They are actually upon us now: October 24–26, 29, and November 1.

The players are the same: Mercury, Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune. (Lurking in the background for now but creating a long-term trend are Saturn and Uranus.) All four of these planets are especially active right now. Jupiter is pleasantly aspecting Saturn. Chiron and Neptune are ending their retrograde periods, which started at the end of May.

As anticipated, Friday proved to be a rough day for stock exchanges around the world after more bad news on corporate earnings. All indexes were down, and some to their lowest levels in 5 years. According to Scott Fullman of WJB Capital Group, “People have been saying that we’re in a recession. This is the realization.” (AP, reported on MSNBC.com, no link available).

Redefining the American Dream
So, what we on the streets have known since February (and years earlier in some areas) is that we’re in a recession. It’s taken Wall Street a while to recognize it. This fits with the current planetary patterns. When Neptune returns to forward movement, we “discover” something collectively and individually. Chiron plays a part in this too. In my post, “McCain Rubs Salt in the Great American Wound,” I mentioned that Neptune is our representative of the Great American Dream.

As Chiron passes over Neptune 2008-10, Americans will be redefining what this dream is. On Bill Moyers’ Journal, he told us that the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) has just released a report on income distribution and poverty, detailing global gaps between rich and poor. The United States has the fourth highest inequality in incomes between the highest and lowest, after Mexico, Turkey, and Portugal. The report says, “Rich households in America have been leaving both middle and poorer income groups behind. This has happened in many countries, but nowhere has this trend been so stark as in the United States.” Moyers says, “Now there’s some real spreading around of the wealth, in one direction — up.”

The Chimney-Up Economy
The American Dream obviously needs redefinition, when all the wealth gets sucked to the top. This chimney-up economic model, firmly supported by free market fundamentalists since the 1980s, has ruined American society and the dreams of the middle class and poor along with it. I was right in picking out the most insidious remark that McCain made in the last debate, about spreading the wealth around, which the media missed completely.

This remains a robotically repeated cornerstone of his floundering campaign, firing up those fearful (but worthy) “low-information voters”, who do not understand the finer points of economic policy (who does?) and see their dreams slipping away. When a hypothetical Joe the Plumber (or any “low-information voter”) hears “spread the wealth”, he sees himself as having his money taken away even though he doesn’t have it yet. When he hears about $150K spent on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe, he doesn’t experience cognitive dissonance at the disparity between her expenditures and his ability to spend that much himself; he anticipates the time when he will have that much to spend on his wife and family, because he can achieve the (old) American Dream if he only votes for McCain-Palin.

Healing the American Dream
This is the old American Dream that Chiron’s transit over Neptune will help us cast aside in favor of a more meaningful one. Chiron in mythology was the wounded healer. He knew how to empathize with others and heal their wounds because he himself had been there. This alludes to the fact that we do our best healing of others from the context of our own painful experiences. They humble us, teach us the way back to health, and help us show the way to others. When we offer healing to others, we also heal ourselves. While this experience is global, in the US the American Dream needs healing. (On the global level, the planet needs healing.)

The American Dream needs to be de-materialized. It needs to go back to its roots as the embodiment of a free life that is full of abundance and prosperity, but not necessarily the material kind: the wealth of good health, happiness with your family and friends, the ability to have and enjoy leisure time, security in your job, and help from the government if you are caught in circumstances beyond your control. It is being de-materialized, and it will be re-formed by every American who carves their future out of the rock of the new economy.

Another Economist with a Clue
In another segment on Bill Moyers’ Journal on 10/24/08, Moyers interviewed James K. Galbraith (son of famed economist Kenneth J. Galbraith) about his new book, The Predator State. Galbraith displayed reassuring clarity in describing what is going on economically and what the US can and should do about it. Although I need a broader understanding before I give his perspective my 100% seal of approval, I am intrigued and encouraged by what he said. I recommend watching this segment rather than me trying to summarize it for you. I am adding Galbraith to my list of the brain trust we should consult to resolve the economic crisis. That list also includes Paul Krugman and George Soros. For insights that we can understand, try Thom Hartmann and Bill Moyers.

Events over the next two weeks will be seminal in shaping our economic future, and among them October 24–November 1 will stand out. The planets show us the energies we will have most available but do not determine how we will respond to their support.

Who’s Gonna Win? A Lazy Way to Predict the Outcome of the Presidential Election

By now we can see the widening poll numbers in the presidential race, and it seems like Obama will win. It would be easy to predict then that he will, whether or not I used planetary cycles and configurations to see what is going on from that inner perspective.

But, I predicted that he would win even while McCain was ahead in the polls in early September, and I found it possible to note that “something unfortunate” would happen to McCain between September 8 and 14. The latter date was the one where he said that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” This reiterated what his advisor Phil Gramm said about the economic downturn being in people’s heads. (There is a mental aspect to the financial markets, but no one is imagining it when their job is shipped overseas.)

So, how do you see who’s gonna win? Most people look at the candidates’ charts on Election Day. However, as was pointed out to me by Maria Kay Simms, both candidates are strong on Election Day. Their birth charts will be lit up like a Christmas tree. To find out which one is lit up more is a lot more work and carries more chance of error or bias than it needs to. Besides that, what chart do you use? Elections begin days, even weeks, before actual Election Day. If we use the beginning point of an event, what data do we use?

As she points out, why not use the inaugural chart? It has a predictable, set time. And the differences between the contacts to the candidate charts will be greater. One person will be on the dais taking the oath of office, while the other will be no more prominent than a member of the audience. This will be reflected in the number and quality of interconnections between the winner’s chart and the inaugural chart.

The Inaugural Perspective
The inaugural charts are found here.
Here are my findings. I used planetary picture formulae from Rules for Planetary Pictures by Witte-Lefeldt as the foundation for my interpretations. (I = inauguration; N = natal)

Obama’s “Hits”
• rejection, denial, destruction, infection [Mars(SA) conj. Neptune(N)]
• public eye on him, “the whole world’s watching” [Moon(I) conj. MC(N)]
• acclaim [Merc Rx/Sun/Jupiter(I) conj. Jupiter(N)]
• to feel a burden, to take over a duty [MC(I) conj. Saturn(N)] - same every inauguration
• increased workload and effort [Saturn(I) conj. Mars(N)]
• change in relationships, social circle, life with kids [Pluto(I) opp. Venus(N)]
• happy family life disrupted for unrelated and understandable reasons [Pluto(I) yod to Moon & Merc(N)]
• abrupt change [Uranus(I) opp. Mars(N)]
• karmic/destined role of leadership [S-Node(I) conj. Sun(N)]/triggered by eclipse 8/1
• many angular planets in return charts for the year; planets on 3 angles in year-long return

McCain’s “Hits”
• deep emotions, feelings of powerlessness [IC(I) conj. Pluto] - same every inauguration
• transformation of destiny [Pluto(I) conj. N-Node(N)]
• sudden separation [Uranus(I) conj. Saturn(N)], chronic illness [Saturn(I) conj. Neptune(N)]; hindered inclinations, love’s sorrow [Saturn(I) conj. Venus(N)]
• destined focus on effort/workload [S-Node(I) conj. Mars(N)] exact ~11/20
• no contact to his MC/IC
• no contact to his Sun
• Return charts:
• solar return (8/29): Moon in Leo on Asc opp. S-Node/Chiron/Neptune on Dsc [choice of wounded or debilitating running mate]
• 1st quarti-return (11/28, under which inauguration takes place): Pluto conj. IC [dramatic transformation in status, buried underground]

Biden’s “Hits”
• to feel a burden, to take over a duty [Saturn(I) conj. MC(N)]
• journeying, social gatherings at home [IC(I) conj. Jupiter(N)]
• destiny bringing a great (personal) transformation [S-Node(I) conj. Pluto(N)]
• public eye on him [Moon(I) conj. Sun-Venus(N)]
• activation of his career & acclaim [Mars(I) trine MC(N)]
• help from unusual women [Venus-Uranus(I) trine Merc trine Jupiter - grand trine]

Palin’s “Hits”
• focus on her “colorful” family, in the public eye [Merc-Sun-Jupiter(I) conj. Merc/Moon(N)] - same every inauguration
• wounded, overlooked, rejected, denial [Chiron-Neptune(I) conj. Sun-Mars-Saturn(N)]
• partnership in obscurity, rejected, denied [DSC(I) conj. Neptune(N)]

I did not examine the return charts for the VP candidates. As you can see, there are much better key phrases for Obama’s contacts at the inauguration, and this tells me that he will be the winner.

There is one more thing to mention. There is a First Quarter Moon on the evening after the election (11/5). The chart for this lunar event, cast for Washington DC, has (very nearly) the degree of Obama’s Sun rising in the chart. The vice-presidential chart results support this finding.

There are many obstacles to Obama being declared the winner, the greatest of which is the concerted effort by Republicans of many stripes to institutionalize ways to disenfranchise Democratic voters. In some swing states, enough may have been disenfranchised through various means to change the electoral result. For more on this and what to do about it, see Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Greg Palast’s article, “Block the Vote”, posted today (although it says October 30, 2008 on the article). I had more to say about this in my post, “Will Election Fraud Change the Vote Again?”, and I will keep you updated in future posts.

This is another reason to use the inauguration chart. If we can’t rely on the person actually winning the election to be inaugurated, we are more assured of a correct prediction when looking at this chart.

Steal Back Your Vote: How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts

With the Saturn-Uranus opposition becoming exact on Election Day, I have long been predicting that election fraud would be a threat, perhaps a big threat, to the validity of our election.

A new article covering the problems in detail can be found at Rolling Stone. “Block the Vote”, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, defines the problem but doesn’t give us the remedies (one of my pet peeves about modern journalism). However, on their website, stealbackyourvote.org, they give the remedies — if you dig deeply enough. They have a print or pdf comic book and a movie. I got bored with the movie before I got the information I wanted, but in the back of the comic book, the following information is given. Here’s what to do to make sure your vote counts. Websites and phone numbers to other vote protection groups and initiatives are given below. PASS THIS AROUND TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. This information should go viral so everyone knows about it and makes sure they get a chance to vote.

****************** From stealbackyourvote.org **********************

1. Don’t Don’t DON’T Mail In Your Ballot
For those of you who mailed in your ballot, please tell me, what happened to it? You don’t know, do you? I can tell you that officially, three-fourths of a million absentee ballots were never counted last time, on the weakest of technical excuses. And you won’t even know it. Furthermore, tens of thousands of ballots are not mailed out to voters in time to return them—in which case you’re out of luck. In most states, new voters must now include a photocopy of your ID. Which is, like, nuts. Every time I hear of a voter going “absentee” to avoid computer screens, I want to “go postal” myself.

2. Vote Early...very early
Every state now lets voters cast ballots in designated polling stations and at county offices in the weeks before Election Day. Do it. Don’t wait until Election Day to find out you have the wrong ID, your registration’s “inactive,” or you’re on a challenge list. By Election Day, there’s little to do but hold up the line.

3. Register and Register and Register
Think you’re registered to vote? Think again. With all this purg’n going on, you could be x’d out and you won’t know it. Check online at www.votersunite.org/info/RegInfo.asp. Then register your girlfriend, your wife, your mailman and your mommy. Contact the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Rock the Vote, and your local party organization, and commit to a couple of days of door-to-door registration, especially in minority neighborhoods or at social service agency offices. And if you’ve served the time, you can sign: in almost every state, ex-cons can vote.

4. Vote Unconditionally, Not Provisionally
In 2008, they’ll be handing out provisional ballots like candy, especially to Hispanic voters. If your right to vote is challenged, don’t accept a provisional ballot that will likely not get counted no matter what the sweet little lady at the table tells you. She won’t decide; partisan sharks will. Demand adjudication from poll judges on the spot; demand a call to the supervisor of elections; or return with acceptable ID if possible. And be a champ: defend the rights of others. If you’ve taken Step 1 above and voted early, you have Election Day free to be a poll watcher. Run into trouble— you’ve been caged or purged or challenged—call Election Protection at 1-(866) OURVOTE. Then challenge the challengers, the weird guys with Blackberrys containing lists of “suspect” voters. Be firm, but no biting.

5. Occupy Ohio, Invade Nevada
The revolution will not be podcast. Let go of that mouse, get out of your PJs and take the resistance door-to-door—to register the vote, to canvass the voters, to get out the vote. Donate time to your union (if you’re not in a union, why not?) or to the troublemakers I’ve already listed here and on our site. This may seem a stupendously unoriginal suggestion, but I know of no other method more effective for confronting the armed and dangerous junta that has seized the White House.

6. Date a Voter
Voting, like bowling and love, should never be done alone. As our sponsor, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, says, make a date to ‘Arrive with Five.’ And keep this comic book in your holster - with our 800 numbers and your photo ID in your hand. And Bobby, make sure your ID says, “Robert Kennedy JUNIOR” or your vote is toast.

7. Make the Democracy Demand: No Vote Left Behind!
I have this crazy fantasy in my head. In it, an election is stolen and the guy who’s wrongly declared the loser stands up in front of the White House and says three magic words: “Count the votes.” You can have all the paper ballots in the world, but if you don’t demand to look at them, publicly, in a recount, you might as well mark them with invisible ink. Democracy requires vigilance The Day After. That’s when you check in at www.stealbackyourvote.org one more time.

JOIN THE INSURGENCY VISIT: StealBackYourVote.org

*********************

Find out when you can vote, how late you can register, and other critical information from the National Association of Secretaries of State: (Click on the link or cut and paste this URL.)

http://nass.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=330http://nass.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=330

Usually you must check with your local registrar of voters to see if you are registered to vote. You can learn more about it at:
http://www.canivote.org/

The largest vote protection group: http://www.866ourvote.org/

Common Cause: Holding Power Accountable

This is a vote protection and documentation project mentioned by Bill Moyers on Bill Moyers’ Journal on Friday (10/17/08):
http://www.videothevote.org/

Election Protection: 1-(866) OURVOTE - call if you may be prevented from voting before or on Election Day (caging, purging, or challenge).

Other numbers:

• Call 1-866-MY-VOTE-1 (698-6831) to report voting problems.
• Call 1-800-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) if you need legal help
• Call 1-877-SEIU-VOTE (734-8868) to find your polling place, report any problems at the polls, or speak with your local board of election.
  

Bill Moyers' voter information and protection page.

Info from the Center for American Progress's Campus Progress Blog.

For the latest on voter issues, see the videos on VideotheVote and YouTube. Watch the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and Bill Moyers’ Journal. Read Loser Take All by Mark Crispin Miller (ed.) or see the interview with him on Bill Moyers' Journal 10/17/08. Let me know about other links and groups, and I’ll post them on Astro-Pol.

McCain Rubs Salt in the Great American Wound

One of the poison pills that McCain planted in the final debate was, “Obama wants to spread the wealth around.” This is like mainlining meth directly into the veins of the paranoid right-wing Republican base, code for “communist” or “socialist”, which are conflated to mean the same thing in their spurious propaganda campaign against the health and unity of our nation. He also mentioned class warfare, another way to divide people into factions. This concept, ironically, is a major component in communist theory.

This is the most insidious of assaults. It implies that the president can, if s/he has the will, take money away from you and give it to someone else — a Robin Hood effect. This is meant to drive a wedge between people and teach them to fear each other.

Obama’s Response
I was disappointed by Obama’s response to this, but in the heat of a debate it’s not surprising that he wouldn’t have the clarity to address it directly from the assumptions it makes, or perhaps to have the time to bring it to the forefront. His answer was adequate, but it failed to uproot the question, which lies at the heart of America’s current divide and underlies every problem we face. Getting to this core issue is one of Obama’s primary interests, if not THE primary interest he has because it is so central to all that ails us. He has repeatedly addressed this matter from the time he gave his first speech to a national audience at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

A Rising Tide Raises All Boats.
The best response would have been to talk about separation versus unity. A rising tide raises all boats. If the middle class (and the working poor) are given a chance — given a job producing something or providing a real service in the real economy (not the fake one built on the casino stock market and the “nothing but air” financial industry) — they will lift the fortunes of all of us. The stock market will be robust; the dollar will flourish; savings rates will rise; credit rates will drop. The US will be an engine in the new real economy.

What Canadians Know
Canadians know this. They have an ethic of “supporting my neighbor is supporting myself”. (That’s not to say that their current conservative government feels the same way.) This was brought out quite eloquently in Michael Moore’s movie, “Bowling for Columbine” as a way of contrasting Canadians’ attitude toward guns and gun ownership and their subsequent relationship with violence.

We could take a lesson from Michael Moore in this (and many other) regard(s), and from the Canadians. If Obama can articulate this repeatedly in his stump speeches and ads between now and the election, he will find that this is the message that Americans are hungry for. They don’t know it, but they don’t believe that “government is the problem”. They are starting to realize the value of — to be desperate for — the intervention of government through regulation and an approach to the economy and the wealth of our nation that lies in the people, our natural resources, and our ingenuity that will reinvest in nurturing that wealth instead of denuding it of all it has.

The Death of Reaganomics
This is the death of reaganomics, the corrupt system that was put into place in the early 80s. It’s taken a long time for the population to understand the insidious seductiveness of the “trickle-down theory”. Instead what it creates is a huge sucking sound as the money gets pulled up to those who are already rich and powerful, who then hold it and create more wealth for themselves off the backs of the people at the bottom. It next pushes the people at the middle to the bottom as through their labor the energy is pulled out of them without just compensation. It results in a greedy rush to be on top, a natural separation of people from each other as competitors for that prize. It results in higher crime rates or a greater reliance on social services as the burgeoning bottom class struggle to find a way to simply survive. It results in greater reliance on credit as people at the middle and bottom of the scale struggle to maintain their lifestyle. Finally, it has resulted in the impoverishment of American society at all levels, including state and local government as the local tax base dries up.

Now the culture is tapped out. First they relied on savings. When those were sucked dry, they relied on credit cards. When those were sucked dry, they relied on equity in their home. Those who did not have this resource struggled to get it and were seduced into buying homes in an over-valued real estate market with deceitful loans. This was the final resource of (supposed) stored wealth. All this resulted from the climate of deregulation that was a grand experiment that Republicans, Libertarians, and corporate Democrats engaged in. They have contributed to a nation run as a corporatocracy.

Even though this was supposed to make government smaller, it has become bloated and engorged in a direction set by big business’s lobbies. In a world where lobbyists are now writing the laws introduced in Congress, the people have had little say in what happens at the highest levels that affects them the most. To get elected, you have to pander to these interests.

The ultimate and more destructive result is the catastrophic effect that this model has had on the environment. This is what is forcing change in an unavoidable and undeniable direction away from reaganomics. To stick our heads in the sand about this is to truly destroy ourselves, and most people are finally waking up from this bad dream.

Recovery
If the problems seem vast, the solution begins with a simple change in understanding and attitude. When we truly realize that a rising tide lifts all boats — that we rise or sink together — a tsunami of change will result, is already resulting. This is especially true when we consider the environmental issues, and this is why we can’t wait. We still have a chance to pull ourselves out of the deep water.

Where there’s a need, there’s a market. The need for a green economy is screaming at us, and that will be the source of wealth in the 21st century. Any economy that can adapt in this direction, create technology and return to simpler means of existence, will thrive.

If Obama can capture the “we’re in this all together” energy of this moment; if he can speak this truth in an inspiring way, he will be speaking to the deep need of the American people and begin the healing process of the greatest wound in the American psyche.

This, in planetary terms, has to do with the great conjunction of Chiron and Neptune, which occurs over the next two years and has been triggered profoundly during the Mercury retrograde period August 28 – October 30. This represents archetypally the healing of the great wound. The great wound is the separation that we perceive between us and the need to find what unites us in order to thrive.

Attack and Anger Didn’t Work: The Final Presidential Debate

McCain was the attack dog, Obama the imperturbable, magnanimous, rational sage in last night’s debate. Post-debate polls say that Obama won, and even McCain supporters were disappointed in his performance, including Joe the Plumber. Several undecided voters in the various focus groups have decided to vote for Obama after this debate. I expect Obama to get a brief but considerable bump immediately post-debate, but then for the spread to narrow a little after the weekend.

Mercury Was Stronger than I Thought.
My debate analysis was pretty close to the mark, as far as what would happen during the debate is concerned. I was off in one respect. The moderator (Mercury) was, even though unconnected in the chart, very important. Schieffer asked relevant questions that brought out the underlying issues for each candidate. (This is testimony to the power of a stationary planet, even though disconnected from the rest of the chart or the candidates’ charts.) In fact, Schieffer was masterful in getting substantive discussion instead of talking points by asking the most authentic (there’s that lesson of Mercury retrograde in Libra) questions of the four debates. Schieffer was not dazzled by greatness or polite when the B.S. was flowing. He gave each candidate a chance to showcase key issues of their domestic policy, from education to the economy to free trade to women’s privacy rights (aka Roe v. Wade).

John McCain reliably played Saturn. He was called “too serious”, “scowling”, and “negative” — Saturn words. He also portrayed Mars pretty well, attacking Obama with every response. Obama responded by not responding — true to Neptune’s nature, whose energy he fulfilled very well. As I suggested, Obama was not symbolized so much by Jupiter but more by Neptune, called “cautious” and side-stepping contention, such as when he was asked about the qualifications of Sarah Palin to be president.

Obama’s numbers have gone up when the stock market goes down, but let’s hope that as the economy gradually stabilizes people remember what is in their best interests.

The Real McCain Redux

When astrologers interpret charts and make their forecasts of events, all rests on the accuracy of the birth information you have for the event or person in question. For months we lamented the lack of a birth time for Barack Obama. I have never been quite content with a 9 AM birth time for John McCain based on “mother’s memory”.

So when ISAR (the International Society for Astrological Research) reported that they have a birth certificate for McCain with a different birth time, I sat up and took notice! A link to the birth certificate is shown in the post I made late yesterday.

Who’s the Real McCain?
This changes McCain’s chart in dramatic ways, and it makes way more sense. First, it turns the wheel of his chart, from Libra rising to Pisces rising. This is a spectacular shift, moving all the planets to very different locations than we thought before, like spokes on a wheel.

Jupiter Moves to the Top.
It places father-archetype Jupiter in Sagittarius, one of its strongest placements (a sign of its rulership), straight up in the heavens at his birth (the Midheaven, or MC). This strong planet is in the strongest spot in the chart, beaming its importance to him. This speaks eloquently of a military life. The military is all-important to him. His father was staunch military, and his father before him — in fact, one of his ancestors served alongside General Washington. This paternal ancestry has cast a long shadow in his life.

However, Jupiter is not unchallenged in its supremacy. It is caught in the net of a complex configuration that traps its subject planets, creating a feeling of entrapment on the part of any person born with it in their chart. (For the cosmic cognoscenti, it’s a mutable grand cross.) This tells me that he felt boxed in, smothered by the expectations of his father, which were to go to Annapolis and live his life as his fathers did. But he was a bad boy on campus, and has acted out in rebellion against the corner he has felt boxed into all his life.

This configuration was always in his chart, but it takes on new significance, a new twist in its real location. Principally, Saturn falls in his 1st house of identity and selfhood, a placement showing a lack of self-discipline and a need to learn it. Now his womanizing tendencies make sense as well, with his Venus-Neptune placed in his house of relationship (the 7th). This is one place where he has sought release from the trap — in love, sex, and revelry.

The Moon Changes Signs.
We always thought that McCain had Moon, seat of the emotions and instincts, in Capricorn. That made sense in some ways, with his image of altruism and discipline (however untrue that may be in reality). A Moon in Capricorn made sense for someone who survived harsh circumstances in the Hanoi Hilton, who stayed with his fellow prisoners beyond the time when he was offered release.

However, it is undisputed that his Moon is in Aquarius, in very early degrees. This made the brain synapses connect immediately, because this Moon is nearly exactly conjunct the Moon of one Ms. Sarah Heath Palin! This is much more befitting of the maverick image, and they connected on that “mavericky” level. (Go to "Who You Callin' a Maverick?" for the response of the disgruntled, civil libertarian Maverick family to the pilfering of their name.) This was like an instant satori! Now we know wtf he was doing when he chose her — it’s down to plain old lunar instinct.

This also benefits him, in that his Moon is lifted from a difficult contact with Pluto, otherwise a sign of deep distrust of women, especially his mother (which he does not appear to have). However, it moves his Moon into another configuration, highlighting his unpredictable anger (a T-square with Uranus and Mars).

The Ripples in the Pond
This change makes waves in all the prognostications about the debate(s) and the election, but are they enough to show a shift in his fortunes? The short answer is, “No.” It doesn’t really change the key factor in his chart that is under siege right now (the trap configuration), and doesn’t lift anything into more prominence that would produce a win for him.

In tonight’s debate, the changes to his Moon and Ascendant suggest that he will have more trouble masking his emotions than I would have thought previously. He is likely to feel more exposes, frustrated, and angry.

There Is Grace in All Things.
Many people were born with his, and other similar, configurations, and we all have our lessons and flaws. He is learning as each of us is, but in a very visible and public way. With his chart, he has an exceptionally difficult pattern to work with, and I applaud his courage in doing so.